Sunday, June 30, 2002
Location: Wellington Church, Glasgow
Weather: Grey and rainy

We're about to start a church service in Glasgow, at a large downtown Presbyterian church whose general size and layout is similar to Trinity St. Paul's on Bloor Street in Toronto. We're sitting in the upper gallery to the right of the pulpit, so that the congregation is mostly below and to our left. There aren't that many here yet, but we brought our own group of supporters to pad out the numbers -- spouses and parents -- so it looks respectable. Since the World Cup final match starts in a couple of minutes it's amazing anyone is here at all!

We had a great day yesterday in Ayr, though I felt a bit groggy all day since I couldn't sleep at all the night before. I'm rooming with Jay Lambie, who snores. Fortunately I didn't have to operate any heavy machinery. In the morning we drove to Culzean Castle, which I had visited in 1997 but had forgotten about -- a big Edwardian pile, quite beautiful and luxuriously appointed. After our tour of the main building we had a quick lunch at a small cafe on the grounds.

[Sing Joyfully, Hymn "Praise to the Lord"]

After lunch, Susan, Craig, Anne, Mary and I walked around the castle and made our way down past a battery of old naval cannons to the rocky shoreline below the castle. We picked our way over cockle-encrusted rocks, strewn with seaweed, to a cave under the castle proper. The mouth of the cave was sealed with an ancient fortification that seemingly connected up to the castle above -- the secret back door! Unfortunately it was closed off with a sturdy looking barred door, so we weren't able to enter. Instead we turned back and made our way south, up a different staircase to the paths running through the castle grounds. We had a very pleasant stroll along the
[Hymn "All are Welcome"]
top of the cliffs, passing an old gunpowder storage shed, before turning back and heading to the coach again.

On the way back to Ayr we stopped for an hour at the Robbie Burns cottage, but I stayed in the bus to try and catch a quick nap.

Back in Ayr, we hit the pool again and then had a rehearsal
[Rise Up My Love]
in a room in the basement of the hotel. At 6:30 we headed to a wonderful pub in town, where I had a lamb burger with mint
[Hymn: "As Many Stones"]
sauce!

From there, Anne, Susan and I headed out on a hike. On Friday we'd seen a ruined fort on a cliff south of the beath. This was our goal. We walked along a paved pedestrian train and over a bridge, past a group of men operating a massive remote-controlled model warship with a buzzing engine.

At the top of the hill we cut through a farmer's field (barley) and through a gap in the fence to the fort. From there, we headed back to the hotel via the beach. With the end of the day the sun was breaking through the clouds and shining off the sea over the distant islands.

Back at the hotel, we had a game of Scrabble before bed. Susan got a seven letter word ("bruising") and cleaned up. I did extremely badly, and ended the game with 23 points left in my rack, including the X and the Z.

Despite the exercise and my fatigue, I once again had problems getting to sleep. I did get a few hours in the end, but also had a lot of time to listen to Jay rumble.

[Gloria Deo Per Immensa Saecula]
posted by Tom at 11:30 AM | link |